So Happy Together
by Calcifer
Summary: Joey hides the pain and depression he feels behind his smile; none of his friends know about his abusive drunkard father, until one day he blurts it out to Mai. Joey tries to deal with the horrible life that has been dealt to him. JWMV not just a romance
1. 711

As Joey Wheeler walked casually down the street toward his bus stop, he wondered how much he actually wanted to go home. He would have to come back in half an hour or so anyway. Plus his dad would just be drunk again, and that would mean a beating. Fun fun fun. He sighed, and turned away from his bus stop to head to his best friend, Tristan's apartment.

          "Hey, Taylor! You in there, man?" He called out at the door. He began pounding on it furiously. "I know you're there! So lemme in!" The door opened to show a tall brown-haired woman carrying a briefcase. 

          "Hello, Joseph. No need to break the door down." She said in annoyance. 

          "Sorry, Tammie." 

          "Mrs. Taylor." 

          "Whatevah. Is my man, Tristan there?"

          "Yes, he is inside doing his homework, but he can't have any visitors. He is grounded."

          "What'd he do this time?"

          "Is that really your business, Joseph?"

          "No, Mrs. T."

          "Mrs. Taylor!"

          "Sorry… Have a nice time at work, _Mrs. Taylor"_

          "Thank you, Joseph. Head on home now." Joey walked around the corner and peeked around until he saw her car was gone. He immediately ran to the fire escape, climbed up, and snuck into the window of Tristan's apartment. 

          "Hey, Tristan!" He called, while wandering through the small kitchen.

          "What the… Oh it's _you."_  

          "The one and only. Ain't yah happy to see me?" He said while eating a slice of cold pizza that was sitting on Tristan's counter top.

          "Hey that is my _dinner!"_ Tristan yelled. "How did you get in here anyway?" 

          "Window." Joey said calmly between mouthfuls.

          "You can still fit through that?" Tristan said aghast. "I stopped being able to do that in sixth grade!"

          "Well I have a better figure than you do, don't I?" Joey said, sticking his tongue out.

          "Or maybe I'm just taller."

          "What was DAT?"

          "Nothing… nothing at all" Tristan said grinning. "Hey have you done your math yet?"

          "God, no. Why?" 

          "I can't figure out this one problem…" Tristan said staring hopelessly down at his paper. Joey sighed, 

          "Lemme see dat. Aha! It is quite obvious… You just need to… Gimme a minute…" He began counting on his fingers and muttering

          "You're so good at this, Joey…" Tristan said sarcastically. 

          "Watch it, bub. Or I'll just leave and let you do this yourself…"

          "I'd get a better grade, and I know you don't want to go home, why else would you be here?"

          "I could have wanted to spread my cheer, or some junk like that." Joey said while still staring at the paper. Tristan snorted with laughter,

          "Cheer? You? Don't make me laugh."

          "How about I make you cry? Would yah like that?" Joey said in mock anger.        

          "Chill out, bro!" Tristan said, grabbing a piece of pizza for himself.

          "Got any soda?"

          "My apartment isn't a 7-11 you know…"

          'Well, DUH! At 7-11s you have to pay."

          "Oh ha, ha. We're so amused." Tristan said, and thwacked Joey on the head. Joey smacked him on the shoulder. 

          "Cut it out, Tristan! But seriously, I am here to tell you that Michael wants to see us, and to get food.

          "What is it this time? Another fight?" Tristan asked looking almost excited.

          "That's the word on the streets; 11th graders too."

          "No kiddin'?" Tristan said, amazed. "Well let's go!" 

"One question." Joey said. "How? You can't fit out the window anymore, big guy." He began laughing. Tristan sighed exasperatedly, "You really annoy me, you know that?"

          "I know. Ain't it great? Okay I have a plan, how about we unlock that door that goes out to the fire escape?"

          "I Don't have a key, genius." Tristan said.

          "Not a problem for 'Joey the Great'!"

          "'Joey the Great'?" Tristan said, nonplused. 

          "I have a rare gift." Joey said smugly. "No mere lock is too much for my prodigious talents!"

          "So you even know what prodigious means, Joey?"

          "Very funny. Do you want me to break you out, or not?"

          "Okay, do it." Tristan said, resignedly. Joey darted over to the door and pulled a hairpin out of his pocket. He carefully jiggled it around in the lock until a faint 'click' was heard. The door swung open.

          "TADAAAA!" He shouted.

          "SHHHHH!" Tristan said, "If my neighbors see us breaking out they might tell my mom!"

          "Why are you so afraid of her?" Joey asked looking skeptical.

          "She's just scary, that's all." Tristan said, looking embarrassed. Joey raised his eyebrows, grinning. 

          "What could she do to you that is worse than something a bully, or I have done to you?"

          "Good point. Okay let's get outta here." Tristan whispered, grabbing his coat. Joey vaulted over the fire escape and landed on a dumpster top. He hopped down from there and grabbed his Yankees hat that he had left on the ground, he put it one backwards, and looked up at Tristan sighing. 

          "Hurry up!"

          "If you think I am going to break my neck by jumping down there…" Tristan began, but then heard a noise behind him, so he jumped down and had a messy landing on the dumpster. "What was that sound?" He cried out hysterically.

          "It was your _cat!"_ Joey sighed, "Completely paranoid…" Tristan glared at him.

          "Let's just go." He began walking very fast, his hands stuck deep into his trench-coat pockets. As Joey ran to catch up with him they spotted Yugi walking down the street toward the Turtle Game Shop. 

          "Joey! Tristan!" He called after them, "Wait for me!" They stopped walking to let his short legs catch up. 

          "Hey, guys!" He said, panting. 

          "What's up, Yug'?" Joey said, smiling.

          "Hi, Yugi…" Tristan began, and then looked at his watch. "Joey? Time to go…" Joey looked at his watch too.

          "Oh shoot! You're right! We'll see you in a bit k, Yug'?"

          "Of course, guys!" Yugi called after their retreating backs. Joey and Tristan walked swiftly down a dark alley, and into a small shack that had a single lamp burning in the dilapidated window. Joey knocked seven times on the door, the first three knocks were loud, and then the next three were quiet followed by a huge bang on the door. The door was opened by a tall boy wearing a plaid jacket over jeans and a black tank top. His long brown hair framed a thin face; he was smiling brightly as he let Tristan and Joey in. 

          "You guys are late!" He said, cheerily, "But I'll let you off the hook this time." 

          "You know how it is, Mike! Tristan's mommy said he couldn't leave, and he's so _scared_ of her that it took a while…" Joey said, mockingly.

          "SHADDUP!" Tristan yelled at him.

          "Just a joke! Chill out!" Joey grinned. 

          "C'mon in," The tall boy named Mike said to them. "We just started." Tristan and Joey walked into the small shack and sat down by some other boys. They greeted them as old friends, and after the greetings Mike called them to attention. 

          "We'll hit the Silverback gang tomorrow night, they have been bullying a lot of kids from Domino High, and that needs to stop. They think they're so cool because they go to the Farmer Walker School…" Mike began.

          "I got it! We set up an ambush outside their locker area! As soon as they come out I'll jump 'em and pin the leader down, and then Bobby and Tristan can come and…" Joey had leapt up and stood behind the desk next to Mike. 

          "Wheeler! How many times do I have to tell you!? _I_ am the leader! You are the second in command! _I_ make the plans! _I_ tell people what to do!" Mike said, glaring at Joey.

          "Well maybe it is time for a change in leadership!" Joey yelled. "Everyone who thinks I should be the leader of the Gray Wolf Gang raise you hand!" No one moved. Tristan put his hand up half way, and then put it back down, and then back up, and then just sat there with his hand down looking torn. Joey swore very foully. 

          "Wheeler, for the seventeenth time, you cannot lead the gang. I know you are very enthusiastic, but you just aren't made for it. You are a great second in command." Mike said, patronizingly. Joey clenched his teeth, and sat down next to Tristan again. 

          "I can't take this! I could lead this gang! You know I could!" He muttered to Tristan.

          "Just chill, man! Don't rush things! When Mike goes to college you can take over." 

          "Oh great. Two years. Like I really have the patience for that!" He whispered back at him. "I'm outta here. Hey, Mike? I got a stomachache I guess I should call it quits…"

          "Okay, Wheeler. See you tomorrow, feel better." Mike called after Joey's back. Joey nodded, and continued to walk down the alley and around the corner. The faint smile faded from his face, just as he faded from Tristan's vision.


	2. Steve from Joey

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh… 

*****************************************************************

Joey walked slowly to his bus stop, angrily thinking about the meeting. His life had begun to take an awful turn, and he finally had issues that he could'nt confide to his friends about. He sighed and got onto the bus, showed his bus card and sat down next to an old lady crocheting. 

          "Hold the hook for me, dearie?" She asked him. He nodded and held her tool as she rummaged about in her bag for her money. Once she had got it she handed the 15 cents to the driver, patted Joey on the head, and exited the bus. The bus took off again, and two stops later Joey exited. He walked for a block until he saw a dilapidated apartment building. Home, Sweet Home. He walked past the garage and noticed that his father's beaten up Volkswagen wasn't there. If he had to guess he would say that his father was off having one of his numerous affairs. 

          "I don't know what they see in him. Sure he's tall and good looking and suave, but his personality is for the dogs." Joey mused to himself as he climbed the seventeen flights to his apartment (the elevator was broken, as it had been for the past three years). Joey went into the kitchen of his tiny apartment, grabbed a bag of chips, and sat to check the phone messages while munching of the BBQ Lays. The familiar woman's voice came on:

          "You have *beep* ten new messages." She said, and the first one began to play.

          "Hey, Big Brother!" His sister's voice on the machine, in the background incredibly loud music was playing, "The party I am at has gone a bit late, and I know you said I shouldn't ride a bus home after dark, so could you come pick me up at 10 P.M.? That would be great! Give me a call at 899-655-7878 if you can. Thanks! I love you, Joey! Bye! *Click*"

          Joey smiled and wrote 'Call Serenity at 899-655-7878' on a post-it note, and went to the next message:

          "Joey! What were you doing?! Why did you suddenly leave the meeting!? Are you okay?! Call me! Bye!"

          Joey rolled his eyes. Typical Tristan behavior. A husky woman's voice came on from the next message.

          "Hey there, Zachary! This is Elly! I can't wait to see you! Oh and if it is little… what's your name? I know it starts with a 'j'… ummm Jake? Okay, Jake. If it is Jake listening to this message, save it for your father! This is big people stuff, sweetie."

          Joey groaned… Why can they never remember my name?! He continued to listen as the woman continued to try and be romantic, his excuse being that she had told JAKE not listen, not Joey. As the message progressed he began to wish he wasn't listening… this stuff was really nauseating. Once the message was done he saved it, and began listening to the next message, done by a high voiced woman.

          "Hi, Zack! Carolyn here! Oh by the way. If Johnny is listening, please stop. This message is for your daddy, so be a good boy, and save it for him!"

          Joey glared, 

          "It-is-JOEY!" He said through clenched teeth, and listened to this message too. If possible it was even more awful than the first one. After that one there were three more "romantic" messages. Not one managed to get his name right. He went from being 'Jeff', to 'Jeremiah, to 'Steve'.

          "Steve?!" He said bemusedly to the answering machine. "How did she get that?" He saved all the messages and wrote on a post-it 'Dad- Your fan club called' and stuck it on the phone. He smiled when he heard the next voice on the machine.

"Hey there, Joey! This is Yugi! I was wondering if you wanna come over tonight or tomorrow! We can have a sleepover or something! I was thinking we could order pizza and have candy or whatever. If Serenity doesn't have anywhere else to go she can come too. Call me, please! Bye-bye!"

Joey laughed, and wrote 'Call Yugi' on post-it. The next message wasn't as nice,

"Joey!!!" A slightly whining girl's voice said, "This is Christy! You haven't taken me out for a long time! Get with the program! I want a nice dinner ASAP! Toodles, darling!" 

Joey grimaced, he can't afford fancy dinners! "Why!? Why does she have to get this way?!" The next message was very disturbing,

          "Mr. Wheeler. We have not yet received the check for your water and power. Unless a check for 500 dollars arrives at our establishment at noon tomorrow we will shut down you power and water supplies. Consider yourself warned." 

          "DAMN IT!" Joey yelled. His father, obviously one of the more spacey people on the earth, had forgotten to pay the bills again. Joey ran from the room to go count how much money he had in the old ice cream box. The total came to 80 dollars. Not even close. Joey swore foully under his breath, he walked back to the phone and dialed the number to the house that Serenity was at. A guy picked up. 

          "HELLO?!" The guy yelled into the phone, he had to yell because the music blaring in the background was so loud that the people in the next county could hear it.       

          "HI!" Joey yelled back, "CAN I PLEASE TALK TO SERENITY WHEELER!?" 

          "SERENDIPITY SQUEALER?" The guy shouted into the phone.

          "SER-EN-IT-Y WHEE-LER" Joey yelled as loud as he could.

          "Why didn't you say so?" The guy asked, and a minute later Joey could hear his sister's voice. 

          "JOEY?! IS THAT YOU?" She yelled. 

          "YEAH! I CAN PICK YOU UP! I'LL BE THERE AT TEN, OKAY?!"

          "THANKS, JOEY! SEE YOU THEN!" She yelled and then hung up. Joey sighed, one call down. He then dialed Yugi's number.

"Hello? Game Shop." Came the high cheerful voice.    

"Hey, Yug'! What's shakin?"

"Not much. So can you come over?" Yugi said happily.

"Love to, man, but probably not tonight. Tomorrow sounds great though! Thanks a million!"

"Sure thing! No problem! BYE!"

"See yah!" He hung up, and then began washing the mountain of dishes that were all piled in the sink; it was best to use the water while they had it. It was five o'clock. He still had five hours until it was time to pick up Serenity. After doing the dishes, Joey cooked dinner for himself and ate it while watching television. 

Around eight he heard a car pull into the drive, skidding and screeching. His brain was sending him warning messages, but he ignored them and moved to the door. A tall man stepped into the apartment. He had yellow blonde hair, similar to Joey's, but he had Serenity's hazel eyes. He had broad shoulders and was wearing jeans and a checked shirt. The shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, and unbuttoned about a quarter of the way. All in all, a very handsome man, unless you looked at his face… his eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks flushed, he looked completely insane… or very drunk…

          "Hey there, Dad…" Joey said nervously.

*****************************************************************

Two and a half hours later Joey pulled up at the party house in his father's car. He was wearing a Yankees hat very low over his face and winced as he got out of the car. He walked up the drive and rang the doorbell, being mindful to stay in the shadows. A red-haired girl answered the door.

          "Hello?" She said, while chewing on a huge wad of bubble gum. 

          "Hey. I'm here to pick up Serenity." Joey said to her.

          "Okay. SERENITY!" She called into the house. A few minutes later Serenity walked out talking to Duke Devlin. 

          "Hi, Joey!" She exclaimed happily. 

          "Hi, Puppy-boy." Duke Devlin smirked.

          "Watch it Devlin!" Joey warned, "C'mon Serenity." They walked off together toward the car, while Duke Devlin stared after them while trying to figure out why Joey was limping.

          In the car Joey pulled off his hat and Serenity gasped.

          "Oh, JOEY! What happened?!" For in the light of the street lamp she saw only a fraction of what had happened. Joey sported two black eyes, there was blood running down from a cut in his temple, his nose looked like it might be broken, his lip was split and bleeding and he had bruises all over his face and neck. "Oh my God! Joey!"

          Joey smiled, 

"Dad seemed to be in a rather bad mood tonight." He said, lamely.

"JOEY! We need to get you medical treatment!" She cried out in horror.

"No! I'm fine… but I'm worried about going home. We'll spend the night at Yugi's." He said firmly. 

"But my pajamas…"

"Got 'em"

"Toothbrush?"

"Yup."          

          "Change of clothes?"

          "Got it all."

          "How did you get out?"

          "Fire escape." 

          "Oh, JOEY!"

          "Look! I'm fine! Really! Let's just go!" 

As they drove Joey asked Serenity,

          "How do you get 'Steve' from 'Joey'?" Serenity sat in thought for a while…

          "Well a joey is a baby kangaroo… and kangaroos are from Australia, and the Crocodile Hunter is from Australia… and HIS name is 'Steve'. So there you go." She said smiling weakly, still staring at Joey's injuries.

          "Ahhhh…."  
  



	3. At Yugi's

Thank you, oh mighty reviewers! *Bows in worship* 

*****************************************************************

Joey and Serenity pulled up at Yugi's house about fifteen minutes later. Serenity rang the doorbell while Joey stood in the shadows behind her, his hat still pulled low over his face. After about a minute Yugi's grandfather opened the door, looking a bit cross that someone would be calling this late. 

      "Yes? Who is it?"

      "Hello Mr. Muto!" Serenity said cheerily. 

      "Why it's little Serenity! And is that you Joey?" He asked to the tall boy standing behind her. 

      "Hey there, Gramps." 

      "What are you two doing here?" He asked, very confused. Joey hesitated and then said very quickly,

      "Yugi invited us over to spend the night and I thought I wasn't gonna be available tonight, but then it was getting late and we were in the area and I thought if it wasn't too much trouble that maybe we could possibly stay here…" He trailed off, and Serenity looked cutely hopeful.        

      "Well I suppose you can…" Grandpa said slowly and before he had finished his sentence Serenity and Joey were inside the shop, and thanking him profusely. Yugi came down into the game shop to see what was going on. When he saw Joey he gave a happy cry and ran up to him.

      "Joey! I thought you said you couldn't make it!"

      "Yeah well things change, little buddy." Joey said happily to him, giving him a brief one-arm hug.

      "Hi, Serenity!" Yugi said beaming, "Come on up everyone!" They all followed him up to his room, where in the bright light of Yugi's Dark Magician lamp, Joey's lacerations were much more visible. Yugi gasped with horror.

      "Oh my goodness! Joey! What HAPPENED!?" He cried out. Joey's eyes went wide.

      "SHH! I just got into…err… a fight. Yeah a fight. And… um… I got most of the guys but there is always the couple that come behind you, right Yug'?"

      "Joey, you should stop being in a gang then this would stop happening to you." Yugi said, seriously.

      'What the hell? How do you know that I am in a gang?"

      "It's pretty obvious." Serenity said, "You always are going off at all hours, you talk like a boy in a gang and you mention it. A lot."

      "No I don't!" Joey protested.

      "Yeah you do." Yugi said, laughing. 'Well never on purpose, but you say stuff like 'Gee I hope it doesn't rain. It would be a shame to miss such a good fight', or 'Mike said maybe sometime I can lead an ambush'. Then you make some weird excuse that you're in the Chess Club or something, and when you said 'fight' you meant 'bite' because you were going out to dinner at an out-doors restaurant, or something. But really, Joey it's pretty obvious. And I think you should stop." Yugi had stopped laughing at this, and then looked Joey straight in the eye. 

      Joey faltered as he was about to deny everything, then was going to say that he loved being in a gang, but his mouth had other plans.

      "You know somethin', Yug'? I totally agree with you. This may sound odd, but I never really liked it. The thing is… well… I do it for… for my dad."

      "What?" Yugi said, unbelieving.

      "Yeah I know it sounds dumb, but he thinks ever boy should be in a gang. That it's some how part of growing up. He was actually proud of me. It is like how normal parents feel about violin lessons, or the science fair. I know it's insane." He said, sighing. Yugi looked at him with a look of confusion. 

      "But why would your dad think something like that? It's a bit odd." Yugi asked tentatively. Serenity looked from her brother to Yugi and back, and then said quickly,

      "Hey, Yugi? Um would you happen to have anything to eat? The party I was at only had potato chips…" Joey smiled at her, he knew that the party had actually been a four-course supper, but he wasn't about to protest. Anything that got Yugi off the subject… besides he was really hungry himself. Yugi beamed at her.

      "Sure! We have some pizza and soda if you guys would like!" He offered. Joey and Serenity nodded fervently then followed him to the kitchen to prepare the snack. While they ate it in Yugi's room, they discussed duel monsters. They also taught Serenity as much as they could about the game. She was a fast learner, and soon they were all dueling each other. That is until Grandpa came in and yelled at them for being up so late. 

      "Where do you want to sleep, Serenity?" Yugi asked her. "The only room that you could be private in is the living room, you could sleep on the couch if you like." Serenity looked nervously at Joey. 

      "The couch sounds great, Yugi. But how about I sleep on the floor in there too, so she doesn't get nervous. This is the first time at your house for her, yah know." Joey winked at his sister, and she visibly relaxed. As long as her brother was there, a kinda scary room was no problem. 

      "Sure, Joey!" Yugi said bouncing up and down slightly. He gave them blankets and pillows, made sure that their room was all set up and then headed off to bed. Serenity sank gratefully onto the couch, while Joey slowly and carefully lay down on the floor next to her. When his back touched the ground he gave a low groan.

      "Are you sure you don't want the couch, Joey?" Serenity asked sounding worried.

      "Yeah. I'm fine, I guess. Just a bit sore. Goodnight, sis.

      "Night, Joey." 

      Later that night Serenity heard Joey tossing and turning. He didn't seem to have slept at all. 

"Joey?" She called softly. 

"Yeah?"

"You asleep?"

"What do you think?"

"Well I dunno. Once I had a fifteen minute conversation with you, and then realized you had just been talking in your sleep."

"Really? What did we talk about?"

"Race cars."

"Okay then…"

"Are you serious about quitting the gang?" 

"That was a big leap from race cars." Joey said, laughing quietly, then turning over to look at her.

"Well? Are you?"

"You know. I think I am. Heh. I can't wait to see the expression on Dad's face when I tell him." He felt one of his black eyes, winced, then said, ruefully, "Well, maybe I can."

"You do know that it doesn't have to be like this don't you? One call could put him behind bars." She said, vehemently.

"And what good would that do? Just get me turned into a 'ward of the state'. I'd go from foster home to foster home. Leave my friends and you behind. Don't pretend like Mom would take me in. She never loved me anyway."

"Don't say that, Joey! Of course she did!"

"Huh. Yeah right."

      Serenity changed tactics immediately.

"Ever think of hitting back?" She asked.

"How can you say that? He's my _dad_. You don't hurt your parents. It just doesn't happen."

"Even if they hurt you? Joey! This has been going on for seven years!"

"Eight." 

"Whatever. You should stop this!" She said, her voice full of passion and anger. Joey didn't respond. He merely turned over and pretended to be asleep. Serenity glared at his back, then fell into a troubled sleep.


	4. Falling

Thanks so much to all reviewers! You all rule! I'm sorry if this is kinda depressing! It's supposed to be! Anyway! Sorry that there hasn't been any romance so far! I think Mai'll come in next chapter… maybe. 

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"Serenity! Come on! We're leaving; I've got your suitcase!" Mrs. Wheeler called up the stairs. Serenity and Joey ran down.

          "Where're yah going, Mom?" Ten-year-old Joey asked. His mother hesitated.

          "Out."

          "When'll you be back?"

          "Tonight."

          "Can't I come? Please?" He begged.

          "No, Joseph."

          "It's Joey, Mom!"

          "I don't care what your name is." She said sighing, "Come on, Serenity."

          "I want to stay with Joey!" She protested. Her mother shook her head at her daughter. Joey chimed in.

          "Mom! Please! You don't have to pretend anymore! I know you're leaving Dad. Can I come with you? I won't mess anything up! I'll just go pack my bag! It won't take two minutes, I won't waste any of your time!"

          His mother looked at him for a long time. It was a mixture of pity and frustration. 

          "You've already wasted my time, Joseph. Ten years of it." She said quietly, then dragged the wailing Serenity out the door. Joey ran to follow, but she locked the door after her. Joey ran to the window, it was locked too. He quickly picked the lock, and hopped out into a rose bush. 

          "Ow! Mom! Serenity! Wait!" He ran after them in a panic. His mother's car began to pull out of the driveway. Joey chased after it screaming 'Serenity!'. But soon his short legs couldn't keep up to the fast car. They drove out of site, and he fell to the ground crying. His baby sister was gone. The light of his life, the one he loved the most. She was gone. He didn't even know her address to send her a letter. He could never find her. He screamed at the sky. People passing by stared at him, one lady came over to ask him whether he was lost. He shoved her aside, and ran off to home. 

          Once he got home, he ran into his and Serenity's room, hoping for her to be there, hoping it was all just a dream. He looked on the top part of their bunk bed. Her pillow was gone, but her My Little Pony sheets were still there. He flopped onto her bed, and buried his face into the sheets. It still smelled like the Watermelon-Blueberry shampoo she used. He closed his eyes, and imagined she was sitting next to him, he could imagine everything about her. Her laughing eyes, her smiling mouth, her thick red hair, her clean pressed dress… He lay there for hours until at five o'clock he heard the door open. He ran out. She was back! He knew it! She had to be! But it was just his father. His father was obviously drunk. Joey was pretty used to this. Zachary Wheeler sat down at the high wooden table in the kitchen. Joey ran up, and pulled himself up the tall stool to sit across from his father. They sat like that for and hour, Zack staring at the table, and Joey staring at him. 

          As the clock ticked to six o'clock Joey glanced at the refrigerator. Dinner was always at six. His mother had been obsessed with schedules, and no matter what was happening in their lives dinner was at six. Joey waited for his father to make dinner, clinging to this one part of his life. If dinner was at six his mom wasn't gone. Life could still go on. He watched the clock. Six-fifteen, six-thirty… dinner wasn't coming. Joey got off his stool resolutely. He and his dad didn't need Mom. He, Joey, would take care of both of them better than his mom ever had. He went over the counter and began peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for both of them. He was incredibly meticulous; he spread the peanut butter perfectly evenly, and cut the crusts off the bread. Once they were made he poured two glasses of milk and carried them to the table. He was careful not to spill a drop of milk on the way. He began carrying the plates over, one in each hand. His mother had always told him to use two hands to carrying something, but if he was going to be as adept as his mother he would have to be able to carry a plate in each hand just like she did. This proved to be a mistake, he tripped over his untied shoelace and one of the plates fell to the ground and shattered. Tears welled in the young boy's eyes as he waited for a reprimand from his father, but his father hadn't even looked up from the table when the crash sounded. Joey remade the sandwich and put it in front of his father. 

          "Here, Dad." He said with a bright smile. He then sat down across from him again, and began eating his own sandwich. His father continued staring at the table. "Dad! You really need to eat! You need three square meals a day." Joey said, quoting his mother. His father ignored him. "This sandwich is full of protein!" Joey continued in vain. "It's on whole wheat bread and has something from most of the food gr-" Suddenly his father had reached out and slapped hard on the side of the head. Joey's stool toppled over, and Joey fell to the ground, his temple bleeding where he had been struck. 

          "GODDAMMIT, BOY!" His father shouted. "YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER!" Joey stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't believe it; his father had just hit him. It didn't click, it couldn't be right. He sat there staring at his father, not feeling any pain, just a numb disbelief. His father stormed off. Joey washed the dishes, wrapped his father's uneaten sandwich in tinfoil for later, still with blood dripping down his cheek. He went to bed afterward and lay in the dark staring at a family portrait. It had him and Serenity sitting in between their parents. Everyone was smiling, everyone loved each other. A few hours later his father came in. He picked Joey up wordlessly and carried him to the bathroom.

          "How'd this happen, Joey?" He asked lightly touching the wound. 

          "You hit-" Joey began, then looked at his father's face. "I fell down" He finished. His father nodded. 

          "And if anyone asks about it, what are you going to tell them?" He asked, smiling like a shark. 

          "That I fell down."

          "Good boy." He then cleaned the cut carefully and put a bandage on it. Then he carried Joey back to his room and set him carefully back into bed. "Goodnight, Joey" 

          "Goodnight, Dad." Joey closed his eyes and drifted off into a disturbed sleep. 

*****************************************************************

"Joey! Hey, Joey! Hellooooo, Joey! Joey? EARTH TO JOEY! JOEY! WAKE UP!" Joey was slightly aware of someone shouting at him. He opened his eyes a crack to see Yugi's worried face about an inch away from him. 

          "AHHHH!" He yelled and leapt away from him. "Don't scare me like that, Yug'!"

          "Sorry, Joey, but I you were tossing and turning in your sleep and mumbling stuff. I think you were having a nightmare." Yugi said.

A nightmare. Yes, there was nothing else to call it. The first time his father had hit him. The start of the abuse… Joey gazed into the distance thinking of his dream, the dream of the worst memory of his life. 

          "Joey? Are you okay?" Yugi asked him. Joey snapped out of it. 

          "Oh sure, Yugi. 'Course I am." He said grinning. "So what's up for today?" 

          "Well Teá and Tristan called and they want to go to the pool, sound good?"

          "Uh… well… I suppose…"   

          "Great! Do you have your swim trunks?" 

          "I think I got a pair in the car… yeah." 

Just then Serenity came in. 

          "Yugi? It's Tristan on the phone he wants to know if you're up for the pool." 

          "Tell him that we'd love to!" Yugi said, happily.

          "Sure thing!" Serenity said, then went back to tell Tristan the good news.

          Right when the three of them were leaving the game shop, the phone rang.

          "I got it!" Yugi hollered up to his grandpa. "Hello? Game shop. Wow! Hi! Nice to hear from you! Mhm... Yeah! Wow, that's great! Yeah, I can't wait! Okay! Three-thirty? Sure! Great! See you then! BYE!" Joey and Serenity stared at him. 

          "Who was that?" Joey asked him. Yugi giggled.          

          "I'll tell everyone at the pool! This is such great news!" He bounded out the door with Serenity and Joey behind him. They walked to the pool and saw Teá and Tristan waiting for them. 

          "Hi, guys!" Teá said, grinning. Serenity and Yugi gave enthusiastic greetings, while Joey only gave a small wave. They all changed into their bathing suits, and were sitting around the pool. Joey had his jacket buttoned over his chest even though it was 85o that day. 

          "Aren't you going swimming, Joey?" Tristan asked. 

          "Nah. I don't feel like it." He said, dejectedly. 

          "You're crazy, Joey!" Teá said. "It's so hot today!" 

          "I know." He said, stubbornly.

          "Fine. Have it your way." She said, sighing.

          "I have really great news, you guys!" Yugi said, excitedly.

          "Oh?" Teá and Tristan said. "What?"

          "Well I just got a call… and Mai is coming to visit!" Joey began laughing.

          "So where's the good news, Yugi?" He asked.

          "That is the good news! She said she's never really seen Domino except in Duel Monsters Competitions and she wants to visit all of us and see the _real Domino City! We're picking her up at the air port tomorrow at three-thirty!" He cried. Joey rolled his eyes._

          "Yipee." He said sarcastically. "I can't stand that woman. She's always putting me down, or being selfish, or…" He trailed off realizing that no one was listening to him, they were all talking about how great it would be to see her again. He sighed and put his feet into the pool. Tristan suddenly shoved him into the pool from behind. 

          "Damn you, Tristan!" He yelled spluttering. He hopped out of the pool, and pulled his sopping wet jacket off. All the people around him gasped. Teá even gave a small cry. His chest and back were covered in scars and yellow bruises. 

          "What happened, Joey?" Teá asked breathlessly. 

          "Huh?" He looked down at his chest. "Oh these? Just what comes of being a klutz, I guess. I tend to fall down a lot." After these words he dived into the pool to stop their staring. 


	5. Confessions

WOW! Thank you review people! You all rule the world! More reviews please! More reviews = more ruling the world! Yay! So pleeease! Mai is actually in this chapter! (Bet you were wondering when she'd come in ^__~) 

Mai Valentine stepped off her plane and filled her lungs with that great city smell. It had been a long time since she had seen Domino City, and she couldn't wait to go all over it, and learn about every inch. As she walked through the thick crowd she saw a small boy with vivid hair leaping up and down trying to see over the heads in the crowd. She waved to him.

"Yugi! Hey!" She called. Yugi stopped hopping and ran up to her, followed by Tristan and Teá. 

            "Hey, Mai!" He said, happily. Tristan and Teá also greeted her gladly. They walked to the luggage carousel, as Mai and Tristan carried her five huge bags between them, Yugi filled her in on everything that had happened ever since she had left. They all got into Tristan's van, and set off from the airport.

            Mai looked around at the three. 

            "Someone's missing." She said, "Where's Joseph?"      Yugi blushed. 

            "Well… he couldn't come. He… had to… umm…" For a millisecond Mai's face seemed to fall, but then her sarcastic smile returned.

            "He didn't want to see me." She said laughing, "Why am I not surprised?"

Yugi looked very uncomfortable. 

            "I'm sure it's not that, Mai." He began to say, but she waved his words away. 

            "Where do you want to go, Mai?" Tristan asked.

            "Oh you can just drop me off at my hotel, I have a rental waiting for me there." She said, smiling. I want to go see the _real Domino starting right away!"_

            "Do you want us to come with you, Mai?" Teá asked.   

            "No, I'm sure you've seen it all already, and anyway I'll get through it faster alone." They all nodded. They had to do their homework anyway. Tristan drove into the parking lot of Mai's hotel. Five pimpled, teenage bellboys ran over to help as soon as they saw her get out of the car. Mai winked at them and unloaded her bags onto their carts. She waved to Yugi and the gang. 

            "See you tomorrow! If you see Joseph, tell him I said 'hi!'" They nodded, said their farewells and drove off. 

            Mai unpacked and collected her rental car. It was a convertible of course. She refused to drive anything else. She got out a map of Domino. 'Hm… might as well start on the West Side.' She though to herself. She pointed out where she was going to the bellboy.

            "Which street should I take from here?" She asked. The bellboy shook his head.

            "Don't go there, Miss. That just isn't a nice place. It's the poor area of town, lots of gangs." He said, trying to dissuade her. 

            "I'm going to go everywhere anyway, so why not start there?" She told him. He reluctantly told her how to get there and she set off. 

            The bellboy was not wrong. It was not a nice part of town. As she drove deeper into the West Side the buildings got shabbier and more dirty, the people became more frightening, and the smell became worse. Mai finally decided to walk, she wasn't afraid of anyone messing with her. They wouldn't dare. She walked for many blocks, gazing at the poverty around her. Bums lay on stoops, small children sat lethargically on the sidewalk, staring at her as she went by. Mai almost felt tears in her eyes. To grow up in a place like this…

            She walked farther and farther until she heard loud noises coming from one of the shabbiest apartments. Someone was yelling. She stopped by the apartment, hating herself for listening to their conversation. 

            "You son of a bitch! What was that about college?! You're gonna leave me just like your Goddamn slut of a mother!" Someone yelled inside the building. 

            "No! That's not how it is! Honest! Mom left us both, you and me! I'll never be like her! I'll never leave!" Mai winced as she heard the obvious sound of a punch. She considered calling the police, but her cell phone was in her car, and she doubted whether there was a payphone for the next mile. The yelling continued. 

            "You'll never be good for anything! You're gonna stay here and work at the shop until the day you die!" 

            "Okay! That's fine! I promise I'll never leave like she did! I'm your son, I won't betray you!" 

            "You aren't my son! You're just some bastard your mother brought in!" 

            "Dad! You know that isn't true!"

            "Get out of here, you son of a bitch!"

            "Dad! Please! Stop! Lemme go! I'm your son! Your _son_!"

            "I don't have a son, I never did!"

            Loud crashes sounded as someone got dragged down the stairs. Mai was horrified, she wanted to close out the sounds, run away screaming, curl up in a ball and yell so that she wouldn't have to listen to it. But she listened on. Suddenly the door of the apartment building opened. A person was thrown out, tumbled down the stairs and lay half in a mud puddle. The door slammed shut, and Mai ran over to the blonde boy who lay curled in a fetal position clutching his side.  She carefully turned him over. When she saw his face she screamed. It was Joey. That joking boy who she'd known since Duelist Kingdom. His face was bloody and his eyes unseeing. 

            "Joseph?" She breathed. He didn't seem to recognize  her. She half carried him to the curb of the road. She took off his sopping wet jacket and draped her own over his shoulders. He sat staring at the ground. Tears were running down his cheeks. She sat next to him, staring at him with a horrified fixation. "Joseph? What happened? Was that your..?" 

            Joey began talking, he seemed to be taking a huge burden off his shoulders as he spoke.            

            "Yeah. That's my dad. He's been like this ever since the very first day my Mom left. But he wasn't always like this! He… he… used to be the greatest dad on earth." Tears continued flowing down his face. Mai wondered why he was telling her this, and then realized he didn't really know who he was talking to. She thought about stopping him, but then felt that no matter how he felt afterwards, he needed to tell someone this. Joey continued,

            "Mom and Dad never really got along. They would always bicker, but my dad never got me involved. He always liked to talk to me about what I would do when I grow up. And about how I'll do better than he did, and get a good education." He laughed humorlessly. "I always wanted to be a baseball player for the Yankees. Third baseman, star hitter. That was my dream. My dad always thought that I could do it, we'd talk about how he would come to see all my games, and I'd give him a V.I.P pass and he could sit right above the dugout. He called me 'Slammer,' because I was sure I was going to break the record of grand slams for one game in my lifetime. He was the first one to call me Joey. My mom wouldn't at all. I hated my name for so long, and I tried to get people to call me 'Joey,' but no one ever would. Then my dad began introducing me as 'Joey,' and I finally got rid of 'Joseph.' 

            "We'd do everything together, and sometimes my mom would let Serenity go too. She was never very close with my dad because my mom always told her bad things about him. Like how he drank too much, or has a fake high school diploma. But I worshipped him. Mom would tell me those things too, but I wouldn't pay any attention. I loved my Dad more than anyone else, and I still do." He trailed off for a bit, and they sat there in dead silence. 

            "I remember the first time I went to school after my mom left." He began again, "I was waiting to be picked up, and my mom always told me to never go home alone, never to walk on the streets, and always wait for her. So I sat there for hours, waiting. I don't really know who I was waiting for. The odds that my dad would have remembered me were nil. But I still waited. Then finally I just got up and started walking. At first I was afraid, and then I realized the incredible freedom you get from the streets. It turned out that everyone knew me, but I didn't know them since I wasn't allowed to talk to any strangers. Starting that day I got to know them. The gangsters and the whores. They protected me. They taught me the rules of life. Kill or be killed. I was finally happy. But everyday I saw my dad turning more and more to drink, and the abuse came more and more frequently. But I still love him. I don't know why." He was sobbing now. "I keep telling myself, 'Kill him, you idiot!' but I never can. I love him! I really do, he was my protector, my friend. Now he denies that I'm his son, he's forgetting about me. The only nice memories I have left are from before I was ten. He buried his face in his knees, and Mai suddenly felt this urge to reach out to him. She didn't even know why, but she put her arm around him, and hugged him. 

After a few minutes he looked up. His eyes grew wide in recognition and horror. 

            "MAI!" He yelled and leapt away from her. He wiped his eyes quickly and said, "I'm a pretty good actor, eh? I was rehearsing for this… uh… play I'm in and I wanted to test the realism of the role on someone. Heh, had you convinced didn't I?" He said, but silent tears were running down his face. She stood up and grabbed her and Joey's jackets.

            "Come on, you." She said and began dragging him toward her car. 

            "Hey! Hey! Where are you taking me!" He yelled, as she dragged him on. When they got to her car, she forced Joey into it, despite his protests. 

            "We're going for a drive." She said, firmly. She started the car, and they drove off, Joey staring moodily out the window. 

            Fifteen minutes later, Mai tried to make conversation.

            "So, tell me about yourself." 

            "Like what?" He asked, still staring out the window. 

            "Where were you born?" She asked. 

            "New York." 

            "That's interesting. Why do you live here?"

            "Because we moved here."

            "And why was that?"

            "Because my dad had to work here."

Mai frowned. This wasn't really working. 

            "Tell my about your childhood."

            "Fine. I was born in Queens, New York on February 3rd. Serenity was born there two years later. I had a lot of friends, and I loved it there.  When I was seven, we had to move here. I had lived in Queens long enough to have a lasting accent, plus my dad talks like this so it was reinforced. My mom made Serenity stop talking with an accent. I hated it here for a long time. My dad used to work with Tristan's dad, until his dad died in a car crash. Then my dad started his own auto shop called "Wheeler Automotives." All the men in my family have been mechanics. I think the profession might have come before the last name even. Alright. That enough?"

            Mai laughed,

            "Okay, that covers your childhood. What else?"

            "I dunno."

            "Do you play an instrument or anything?"

            "Yeah. I play guitar. Well I used to."

            "What happened?" 

            "I had to sell it to pay the rent."

            "Oh. I'm sorry."

            "It's fine. It was funny, before my parents split up my dad, Serenity and I had our own little band. She played percussion and he played sax. It was hilarious. You haven't lived until you hear five year old Serenity singing 'Wild Thing.'"

            Mai snickered at the mental image.        

            "That reminds me. How is your sister?"

            "Oh she's fine. The operation went really well, and she's staying with me now."

            "That's great! I'm surprised your mom let her."

            "Well Mom's in Australia with her boyfriend. Serenity didn't want to go at all, and since I offered to take her in, and it's really not useful to have your daughter from a previous marriage around when you're in a relationship, my mom said she could stay."

They sat there in silence for a minute, then Mai put on the radio, it was on the Oldies station.   
            "Do you like Oldies?" She asked. 

"Love them." Joey said. "What's your favorite oldies band?"

"I dunno, I like all of them. How about you?"

"Rolling Stones are awesome. Beatles too. Oh and you can't forget The Turtles!"

            "I can't see me lovin' nobody but you, for all my life! When you're with me baby the skies'll be blue for all my life! Me and you! And you and me! No matter how they toss the dice! It had to be, the only one for me is you, and you for me! So happy together!" The both sang together, and then burst out laughing. The ice was broken.

            "I can't believe I met another Turtles fan around my age!" Mai said, still laughing.

            "Hey, that song is a classic! How can you not love it?"   

            "Oh I know! It's my absolute favorite!" She said. The grinned at each other; Joey's father forgotten for the moment. Suddenly, Joey looked at his watch.

            "Oh shoot! I was supposed to be at Burger World fifteen minutes ago!"

            "I can drive you there. Meeting Yugi?"

            "Er… Not exactly." Mai didn't ask anymore questions, but drove quickly to the large burger joint. Joey hopped out, his clothes were still muddy and damp, and he was covered in blood and bruises. Mai got out too,

            "I'll walk you to the door." She said smiling. Joey nodded.

As they walked in, a girl around Joey's age with bright purple hair marched up to him. 

            "Christy! Babyyyy!" He said grinning at her. She slapped him on the face. 

            "Joey Wheeler! First you're twenty minutes late! Then you come in all disgusting with this… this… hussy! How can you do this to me in front of all these people!"

            Joey looked at a loss for words. 

            "I'm so so sorry, hon! I got in a fight on the way here, and then my old friend Mai from Duelist Kingdom came by and…" She glared at him.

            "Fine. I'll give you one more chance. But you better take me on the nicest date in the world next weekend, or we're through!" She snapped, and turned away. Joey nodded meekly. 

Mai had been rolling her eyes up to the word 'date.' 'Date? What date? DATE?! This is his _girlfriend? NO! Joey can't have a girlfriend. Impossible.' She felt a weird feeling the pit of her stomach. What was it? A small though leaped into her mind. 'Jealous? JEALOUS? Of what?! Christy? Why one earth would she feel that. Pity maybe, there was something she could understand, but _jealousy_?' She attributed the feeling to the fact that she hadn't had lunch yet. Joey was walking dejectedly toward the car, she hurried to go catch up with him. _

"So that was your…?"

"My girlfriend. I never have enough money to go on nice dates, and I'm not good at all that romantic crap." He said, flopping into the car. "I'm surprised she hasn't dumped me already. I really don't deserve her." He said sighing.

'No,' Mai thought, 'She doesn't deserve you.' "Come on," she said, "I want to hear you play guitar!" 

"I told you! I had to sell it." 

"That doesn't matter." She said grinning at him and drove off, with him staring at her in confusion.


	6. Never a Family

Thank you all reviewers! You are the best! Oh, just in case any of you are wondering why Joey isn't filthy rich after the tournament, I'll let you know! The dubbers are fools! Fools I tell you! In the real show, Joey gets 3 million YEN. This is around 15,000! After buying Serenity's eye operation, he'd have maybe a thousand left at most, and this would quickly be spent! Okay! On to the next chapter! (Oh! I hope you all are impressed about how fast I update! ^__~)

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$

"You're insane!" Joey protested as he and Mai snuck around the huge music shop. 

"Aha! There it is!" Mai crowed when at the very back, a beautiful electric guitar sat on display. Joey moaned. 

"You aren't supposed to touch those! Look at the sign!" Mai waved away his protests. After first making sure no one was looking, she handed him the guitar.

"Play something for me." She said, smiling. Joey reluctantly slipped the strap over his head. He fingered the strings lovingly, then played a loud chord. A few people in the store glanced his way. He blushed, and made to put the guitar down, but Mai stopped him. "Please, Joseph?" He sighed. 

"Fine." He began playing "Born to be Wild" very loudly. Most of the people in the store began walking over and staring with awe at this nobody playing so well. The manager finally noticed the disturbance and rushed over. He began to stop Joey, but Mai pointed to the door of the shop. Many people were coming in to see who was playing. This was great for business. The manager sighed and walked away, leaving Joey to play in peace. Joey finished the song, and everyone applauded. He looked up, and when he saw them, he resembled a deer in the headlights. People were even tossing coins to him. 

          "Oh no… really… I don't want…" He protested. But they kept applauding, and demanding an encore. He looked around, then winked at Mai. He began playing the familiar tune of "So Happy Together." Mai laughed. Joey began singing the song; his voice was low and smooth. Mai really enjoyed hearing it, and she didn't want it to stop. When the song came to an end, she wanted to make him play it again, but the manager said they had to leave. Mai sighed. Oh well. Another day perhaps. 

          They walked out laughing. 

          "You don't know how good it felt to play a guitar again." Joey said. "I didn't realize how much I missed it." 

          "You were great!" Mai said, enthusiastically.

          "Thanks, Mai. That really cheered me up."  He said, grinning. "I guess I've been pretty low lately." 

          "What are you doing today?" She asked him.

          "Well, I was going to take Christy out, but I guess that isn't going to happen." He said, sighing. "Maybe I'll take Serenity to the beach. It's a nice day." He looked above him at the cloudless sky. 

          "Are the beaches nice here?" She asked tentatively.

          "Oh, yeah! They're great! Very warm." He said. "Hey, why don't you come along? We could have a picnic or something." Mai grinned.

          "Really, Joey?" She asked. "I wouldn't be imposing or anything?" Joey shook his head. 

          "Nah, you're okay, Mai. Look, I'm really sorry I didn't come to pick you up from the airport…" He was blushing slightly as he talked. 

          "Oh, it's fine, Joey. I know I've never been that nice to you. But you're a great guy, let's be friends now." She said, smiling. Joey smiled back. "Do you want to call Serenity on my cell phone?" She asked, pulling it out of the glove compartment. 

          "Yeah, that'd be great!" He said, taking the purple phone from her. He dialed the number of the friend's house that Serenity had been sleeping over at. He quickly told her their plan, and said he'd pick her up in an hour. She was overjoyed to go to the beach, as it was her favorite place in all of Domino. 

*****************************************************************

An hour later, as they drove to the beach with a picnic and beach chairs, Serenity and Mai chatted happily about clothes, boys, and movies. They arrived at the sparkling water, and set down their food. After eating Mai lounged on a blanket reading a magazine, and Serenity and Joey began making a huge sandcastle. 

          Joey had gone to get some water for the castle in a bucket. Mai wasn't paying attention, and suddenly he snuck up behind her and dumped the bucket over her head.  Mai yelled as the cold water soaked her. She leapt up, laughing, and dragged Joey by his ear to the water and dunked him in. He then grabbed her leg and pulled her into the water too. She landed about an inch away from him, and they sat there for a minute, their faces mere inches away, as the waves lapped around them. Simultaneously, they blushed and looked away. 

          "Joey!" Serenity called. "While you're down there, could you get more water? The main wall is falling down!" Glad for a task, Joey jumped up, and filled the bucket, as Mai wrung out her soaking wet sarong.  

          They continued talking and laughing at the beach, and they watched the sun go down over the water. Joey sat with his arm around Serenity as the glorious colors faded from the sky. The drove back home, happily talking and laughing. Mai dropped Joey and Serenity off a few blocks away from their apartment, and made her way back to the hotel.

*****************************************************************

The next day Joey lay alone in his room, listening to the radio, and reading Howl's Moving Castle, from time to time he would glance at the picture that sat on his bedside table. It had been taken many years ago. It had his father, mother, him, and Serenity, all standing together in front of the Statue of Liberty. They were all smiling, and he and Serenity were doing peace signs. His parents had their arms around each other, and his mother was resting her hand on Serenity's shoulder, and his father on Joey's. Joey treasured that picture. It was the only picture he had of them as a whole family. He went back to his book. He heard his father come home from work, but didn't bother getting up. After a while he heard a knock on his door. He jumped out of bed, and opened it. His father, who looked very tired, walked in. 

          "Er… Hi, Dad." Joey said to him. "Um, why are you here?" 

          "Can't I come in to my son's bedroom once in a while?" His father asked, and sat on the bed. "I haven't been in here for years." His eyes traveled around the walls taking in all the posters. He pointed to two posters that were right next to each other, one of the Flame Swordsman, and another of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "What are those things?" He asked. Joey smiled, glad to have something he could really talk about. 

          "Those are called 'Duel Monsters,' Dad! It's a really cool card game where you have these monsters and they battle each other, and you use magic and trap cards to power them up, and destroy your opponents monsters!" He said, enthusiastically. "And get this, Dad! I'm the runner up to the champion of the world!" 

          His father laughed. "Well, that's something to brag about; second place in a card game. Well you were always good with cards; you used to like gambling if I remember correctly." Joey nodded. 

          "I still do, Dad. But it's nice to have a card game that it's legal for me to play." He pulled a box out from under his bed, and handed it to his father. "Those are Duel Monster cards." His father opened the box, and examined the cards. 

          "Interesting." He said. "How do you get these things, anyhow?" 

          "You buy them in booster packs. They have nine random cards, and you can add them to your deck." His father nodded in understanding, and continued examining Joey's room. His eyes fell on the family picture. 

          "You still have that?" He asked. 

          "Yeah, it reminds me that we were a real family once." Joey said, sadly. His father glared at the picture for a minute. 

          "We were never a family." He said, angrily. He stood, suddenly, and knocked the picture off the table, and crushed it beneath his foot as he left the room.

           Joey fell to his knees by his treasure. He picked it up gingerly, since the glass from the frame was everywhere. The picture had been ripped right down the middle by his father's foot, so on one half was his mother and Serenity, and on the other half was himself and his father. Joey felt tears threatening to leak out of his eyes. He got out some tape and tried to mend the picture, but all it ended up doing was making it worse. He finally cut himself and Serenity out of the picture and taped those pieces together. They would always be family, no matter what his father said. He threw out the remaining pieces depicting his parents. He didn't need them anymore. 


	7. Bullet

            Calcifer: Greetings, one and all! This is your author speaking! I've got a long chapter for you today! W00T! Very long! I think it's my longest yet… and it's kinda depressing toward the end… really depressing… I'm cryin' here! T__T Well good news, bad news time. Bad news: Really icky cliffhanger coming up! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Good news: I can't just leave you there, so I'll be uber quick to update for the next chapter! I love all you reviewers! Thank you so much!!!!!!!! Please _keep reviewing! And if you're a new reader then please review as well, and welcome to "So Happy Together!" ^_____^ I'm sorry this is such a sad chapter… anyway! Byebye!_

Joey walked home from his bus stop on a Friday afternoon. He had had a good day, and was looking forward to his weekend. He let himself into his apartment and flopped on his bed. The Water and Power Company had stayed true to their word, for after a few days, the power and water had been shut off. He sighed, now he had nothing do.

             He thought about the gang meeting that was going to take place that night. He had already decided not to go, and Tristan had decided to follow his lead. Joey liked being free of that world, though he knew they wouldn't be happy about his quitting. He heard the front door open, and his sister's sweet lilting voice call out to him. 

            Joey darted out of his room and helped her carry her large backpack inside. She grinned at him.

            "Thanks, Joey." She said smiling. He grinned at her, and then checked his watch.           

            "Damn! I've got to go to the shop now. Wanna come?" 

            "Sure!" She said happily, the batted her eyelashes sweetly. "Can I have a piggy-back ride?" Joey stared at her. 

            "C'mon, Serenity… I used to give you those when you were like four." Serenity's lower lip trembled.

            "But, Joey…" She sniffed. "You haven't given me one since then, and you're still the same amount taller than me… and well… I guess if you don't want to…" She turned away from him, sniffling to her self and pretending to cry. Joey made helpless protests, but she shrugged them away, shuffling toward their room. Joey sighed; she was the only person in the world who could control him like this. He laughed and ran up to her and swung her onto his back. 

            "There! Happy now?" He said, in mock annoyance. Serenity burst into laughter and hugged him so tightly around the neck that he nearly choked. He carried her all the way to the dingy "Wheeler Automotives." 

            Joey sighed as he looked at the line of cars needing repairs. As usual, his father was no where to be seen, so all the work was left to him. He began changing the tire of the first car, while Serenity entertained him with stories of her school, and handed him various tools. After she finished a story of another one of her obnoxious suitors, Joey slid out from under the car he was fixing, wiping grease and sweat from his forehead.

            "Remind me to kill that guy, won't you?" He said, jokingly. Serenity giggled, and stood up.        

            "Look, we have a customer." She said, pointing at the driveway to the repair shop. Joey stared at the shining car being slowly driven in. 

            "Wow. That's a nice set of wheels…" He said, whistling. He was already counting the money in his head. Maybe he'd be able to buy that new booster pack after all… His plotting ceased as soon as he saw the owner of the car. 

            "KAIBA?!" He shouted in horror. Kaiba stepped out of the blue convertible, and gave Joey his signature look of disgust. 

            "Just fix it, Wheeler." He said, sneering. Joey looked at him suspiciously. 

            "Why in the name of Lady Luck are you bringing your car to me? You have a personal mechanic!" Kaiba shrugged.

            "I was in the area when this old rig broke down. Besides I thought it would be good to aid the local… talent. The scenery is nice too." He finished, glancing at Serenity. 

            "What's _that_ supposed to mean?!" Joey said, looking around at the graffiti-stained neighborhood in confusion.

            "Never mind, Wheeler." Kaiba said sighing. "Can you fix it or not?" 

            "Sure I can fix it, smart mouth!" Joey said, angrily. 

            "What wonderful customer service they have here." Kaiba said, sneering.  Joey sighed with annoyance, but thought of all the stuff he could do with the money they would get.  He proceeded to open the hood of the car and see what was wrong. After a few minutes when he looked up, Kaiba and Serenity were no where to be seen. 

            "Serenity? Kaiba?" He said to the air. "That's kinda weird." He shrugged, and went back to working on the car's engine. After an hour of work, he went inside to give Kaiba the bill. When he went indoors, he saw Serenity pouring Kaiba a coffee. He handed Kaiba the bill. To his humiliation, the tall boy burst into laughter.

            "That's _all?" _He said between spasms of laughter. "I've had more expensive haircuts." 

            "Well yah wasted your money; nothing would make that stuff look nice. So, yah want me to raise the price?!" Joey said, his cheeks flushed. 

            "Well, I just hope the work you did was worth more, or else I'd barely be able to drive a block." Kaiba said, still grinning wickedly, and pulling some money from his wallet. Joey frowned, and snatched the money from him. 

            "Thank you for your business, sir." He said, as his father had always trained him to. Kaiba smirked and left the small shop. Joey stuck his tongue out at Kaiba's back, muttering various curses. 

***********************************************************************

            Sitting in her hotel room, Mai was worried. True, Joey always acted like his life was okay, but he shouldn't have to live with someone like his father, especially not with Serenity there. She had looked his number up in the phone book, but after calling she found that the number had been disconnected. She sighed with annoyance. He didn't seem to care about what happened to him, but _she cared. She knew many stories of people with abusive parents. They usually turned to drugs or drink, became abusive themselves, or… she didn't even want to think about suicide. She knew that Serenity and Joey's friends kept him going, but what if something happened… She shook her head violently. She would never call the police about it, even though she knew that was what she should do. Joey's bruised and lonely face kept flashing before her eyes and she couldn't keep still. _

            She just wanted to hug him tight; to comfort him and let him know that she'd always be there for him. She laughed to herself as she imagined his face: the horrified look that he would get. She wondered if he still believed in 'girl cooties,' he certainly was immature enough. He still seemed like a kid to her, but then she thought of his weary face after she had found him thrown out of his apartment building, and the way he dealt with the terrible live that he was forced to endure. In a way, he was more grown up than any of them. He didn't have anyone to go to when he was hurt; he didn't have someone to take care of him, or to wipe his tears away. He had to live as an adult; he took care of bills, his sister, food, and his drunken father. Her musings brought her back to the woman… girl rather… that she had met the other day. That Christy. Mai couldn't really explain why, but she felt a terrible loathing for her. 

            'Maybe she's really great to him. Maybe she helps him deal with his dad. Maybe she hugs and comforts him and kisses the tears away.' That last thought made her feel violently sick. The idea of Joey kissing someone was just plain odd. But the idea of them together… she quickly turned on the TV and began watching a ridiculous soap opera to take her mind off it. But her mind kept on being turned back to Joey as the dashing blonde hero (who kept starting to look like Joey to her) went off to Prussia to save the young woman who he met at a party (who was really a princess) from the evil clutches of Lord PostMortem. She turned the TV off. It didn't matter at all. The princess could turn into a flying monkey for all she cared, but she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was sure something bad was going to happen, though she didn't know what. She tried calling Joey's phone number again but nothing had changed. It was _still_ disconnected. What else had she been thinking? She was angry at herself for acting like a mother hen. She decided to go out to a movie for a bit, at least she could take her mind off it with a good comedy. She was sure to pick one with _no blondes…_

*********************************************************************

            Joey and Serenity walked home together happily. As he entered Joey looked around for a sign of his father, but wasn't anywhere to be seen. He made some dinner for himself and Serenity, and they sat together talking and laughing. They goofed off after dinner, playing Duel Monsters and just having some nice time together. Around ten they decided to go to sleep, and curled up on their beds in the room they shared. 

            "Joey?" Serenity said quietly.

            "Yeah?" He said in the middle of a yawn.

            "You know I love you, right?"

            "Course I do. I love you too. Now go to sleep." 

            "Okay. Thanks for everything, big brother!" 

            "Fugetaboutit. Now go to sleep, or I'll do a Bugs Bunny and drop and anvil on your head to _make you sleep." He rolled over and fell asleep almost instantly. Serenity grinned into her pillow, and fell asleep soon after him._

            A few hours later Joey was roughly awoken by his father dragging him out of bed. Serenity was sleeping quietly, and wasn't woken up by the sound of Joey hitting the ground with a loud thump. 

            "Dad? What on earth… it's one in the morning!" He complained. His father didn't say anything but went out to sit in the kitchen, with Joey following him.

            Zachary Wheeler sat at the small table and opened a bottle of beer. He took a long swig, but spat it out instantly. 

            "This stuff's warm!" He said in disgust, throwing the bottle across the table at Joey, who easily dodged it. 

            "Yeah, our powers been shut off, don't you remember? They need five hundred dollars, and… um… we haven't had any money lately." Joey said nervously. His father merely shrugged.

            "Five hundred? That's nothing. Which reminds me, how much money do you have stored up, kid?" Joey thought for a second. 

            "I had eighty a few days ago, then I got ten from the paper route, so ninety." His father sighed. 

            "So no where near five thousand?" He asked sarcastically. Joey jumped.

            "Why do you need five thousand?" 

            "Because I borrowed that much, and the debt's been called in. I have to go pay it tonight." Joey looked horrified.

            "But, dad! We don't have that sort of money! When did you borrow it? What did you _do _with all of it? How're you going to get it by tonight!?" His father shrugged, and stood up resolutely. 

            "I borrowed it a few weeks ago, but I spent it all on some booze and on a damn horse that can't run straight. And, we're going to have to tell them we don't got it." He said matter-of-factly. Joey nodded, but then a thought crossed his mind.

            "Um, Dad? Who exactly did you borrow this money from?" 

            "The Stephanovs." He said, and Joey's face blanched. 

            "The _Stephanovs_?! Dad! You can't weasel out a debt with them! They're the toughest gang in town. I heard they actually are part of the mob! They've killed more people than..." He trailed off at a look from his father. Zachary grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him toward the door.

            "Shut up, kid. I know. Come on. Let's go try to reason with them, shall we? You can be my back up." He said, laughing humorlessly. Joey allowed his father to drag him to their car, but his heart was beating with fear. The Stephanovs were a huge underground organization; they traded illegal drugs and imports, and were more cruel and ruthless than any mob or mafia group he had ever heard of. He had heard so many stories… he even knew people who knew people who had been killed by them. They dwelt in the shadows; secretive and deadly. As his father drove toward the meeting place Joey began to feel cold sweat trickle down his brow. He was rarely scared by anything but the super natural, however the people he and his father were about to face were as close to demons as the living could get. 

******************************************************************

            After an hour of silent driving, his father parked on a deserted dock, far away from Domino City. As he and Joey got out of the car, nothing could be seen but the moonlight shimmering on the ocean. Joey's father looked around apprehensively, while Joey shivered as the icy sea breeze caked his hair with salt. 

            Suddenly, out of the shadows, a tall, muscular, tattooed man stepped in front of them. 

            "Do you have the money, Mr. Wheeler?" He asked in a quiet, thickly accented voice, but Joey could hear the danger lurking behind it. 

            "No. I've been having a hard time lately. Can you gimme a few more weeks? That's all I need." Zachary stood his ground, looking the ominous man in the eye. 

            "You… don't have the money?" He asked, his slit like eyes narrowing. Joey felt the hairs on his neck raising; he had the eerie feeling that someone was watching them.

            "Well, Mr. Wheeler," The man continued, "I don't like your answer. Don't like it at all. I'm sure you know what happens to those who don't repay their debts…" He lit a cigarette casually, blowing a column of smoke into the air. A signal. Joey's eyes scanned the darkness and suddenly he saw a sight that paralyzed him with fear. The glint of metal, buried in the shadows. He yelled to his father,

            "Dad! Look out!" But it was too late, a shot was fired from the darkness, and he watched the bullet speeding for his father's chest. Joey felt his body lunging forward; he had lost all control of himself, as he screamed "DAD!" to the night. Then he felt pain; unbelievable agony that clouded his vision until all he could see was his father's wide eyes. 

            "Dad…" He murmured as he fell to the ground, the bullet lodged in his chest. His father stared down at him, aghast. Joey felt blackness threatening to surround him; he made one last effort, and raised his hand to his father, like a lost child. "Daddy, help me…" It was barely a whisper. Zachary stared at the pool of blood coming from his son's lean body. He made a chocking noise, then turned and ran. Joey's eyes widened. His father hadn't helped him; he hadn't tried to save him in any way. Now when it really mattered, he didn't care about him at all. His eyes began to close in despair and pain, and the blackness completely enveloped him. The last thing he was aware of was the sound of a car, yelling voices, and one calm, forceful one… then his eyes went dark, and he knew no more. 

            In the middle of the night, Serenity sat up in bed with a small scream. Her eyes widened, feeling a terrible coldness fill her body. 

            "Joey…" She felt the bond that had lasted between them since infancy grow thin. She stared out the window, horror filling her large eyes. Somewhere out there… her brother was dying. 


	8. My Angel

            Okay, you can all yell at me. I promised a quick update… I'm such a bad person!  T__T Okay, anyway! Ummmm… A few notes! This chapter is a few days late! It was gonna come to you in honor of Joey's and my Birthday! (Mine is the day after his!!!!!!!!) But since I haven't been on ff.net for a while I didn't know that chat room fics were banned, and I had an old chat room fic that I had made when I was really, really bored under my username and then they deleted it and told me I couldn't upload stuff for a while!!! So this was supposed to come to you on the 25th!! And although I lied to y'all and told yah that Joey was born on February third…. I was just kidding. Yeah. Back then I wasn't sure whether it was Feb 3rd or Jan 25th because tons of sites say either one is right, but I have known for a while that it is the 25th of January which makes me soooo happy! WOOOT! We were meant to be together!!!!!!!!! Thanks a bunch to my new reviewer Gyrrlgenius who caught my slipup in that chapter! I had been meaning to correct it but I forgot -^_^- hehe... bad meeee! So ummm I hope you don't want to kill me for last chapter, and I just wanna let you know that this is the end. Joey dies, and never comes back to life; it's so sad and horrible… JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hehehe… did I scare you? Yeah, this fic is just getting started!!! Oh, and just so you all know... I got a death threat from one of my reviewers… and that kinda creeped me out. A lot. Because she was yelling at me for 'abusing Joey' and I thought… Hey! I'm not abusing Joey! His dad is!!!! Don't kill the messenger!!! … But it was still scary!!! ^___^; Okay, well I hope you enjoy this chapter! It was fun to write! Review Please!!

- Calcifer (PS umm there was some confusion about the last two chapters, I made a few grammatical changes in one and reposted it, but I accidentally mixed it up so chapter seven got posted twice and six wasn't there at all! Oops! So if you read the chapter where Joey gets shot twice… go back and read chapter six again because it's back up now! Sumimasen mina-san!) (PPS: Um just so you know, it's not around the time of Joey's birthday in the fic. That'll come later! Hehe… Anyway! Umm if you were wondering about ages: Joey is 17, Serenity is 14, Kaiba is 17, soon to turn 18, Yugi and Co. are all 17, and Mai is 18.)

            Joey felt incredibly light, as is his whole body was floating in the air; completely weightless. It was completely dark, but images kept floating in front of his eyes. He saw himself sitting outside his elementary school waiting for someone to pick him up, though no one would come. He saw himself huddled in a corner of his room nursing cuts and bruises all alone in the dark. He saw himself sitting alone at lunch, an arrogant twelve year old, too proud to ask to sit with anyone else. Soon all the visions went too fast and blurred, so that one was indiscernible from another. And through it all he heard someone calling him. He was sure he was dead and he knew the voice was calling him in vain. The voice was insistently calling out "Joey!," but he could not move or respond.

            "I'm dead," he murmured, "It's no use, go away. Let me sleep." The voice was grating in his aching head, though its tone was sweet. He laughed to himself, thinking that perhaps it was an angel, and decided to open his eyes to see her face and tell her to stop yelling at him so he could rest, for that was all he wanted to do; just to sleep and be away from the sharp pains in his chest forever. His eyes opened a crack and a blinding light entered them. He could tell that someone was leaning over him, but he could not distinguish any features. He thought he heard someone yell something, and heard running footsteps, but he was still trying to focus on the person above him. Finally he saw her clearly, and it _was_ an angel: his red-haired angel of a sister leaning over him, calling his name, and holding his hand. His hand felt wet, and when he looked at it he saw that she had been crying onto it. He had never wanted to make her cry, and he tried to say something, anything, to make her stop, but he couldn't make a sound. He felt someone else doing something to his chest, and he directed his gaze there. Another woman seemed to be changing a bandage. It was all too confusing. Where was he? His brain felt fuzzy, and he could barely process one thought at a time. Suddenly a face leaned over him that instantly shocked him out of his stupor. 

            "K-Kaiba?" He yelled, though it came out very scratchily, and half the sound was lost due to his weakness. 

            "Yes. He's alive." The brown-haired head said above him, laughing at the horrified expression on Joey's bloodstained face. 

            "What? Where? How..?" He moaned in confusion. Even Serenity giggled quietly at this, and hugged him tightly around the neck.

            "Oh, Joey! You're alive! Thank heavens!" She was sobbing into his hair, but she was laughing with relief at the same time. He winced slightly as she jostled his body, and she pulled away, looking worried. "Did I hurt you?"

            "Nah, it's okay…" He croaked, still not able to talk very well. "What… happened?" To his surprise it was Kaiba who spoke.

            "I happened to be observing your father's transaction from a safe distance. I do quite a few dealings with Stephanovs, and I find it useful to know about all their … business deals. When I saw you get shot, I went in and convinced them to let me have the body." Joey was staring at him in disbelief. "What's the matter Wheeler? Aren't you even going to say 'thank you'?"

            "You… saved… _me?_" He said, incredulously. "_Why?" _

            "Joey!" Serenity cried, reprovingly. 

            "It's a fair question." Kaiba said, rolling his eyes. "I don't really know myself. Charity, I suppose." 

            "Okay, that's great. Thanks a lot. Where am I?" Joey asked, nervously, looking around at the large four-poster bed, and lush curtains.

            "A guest bedroom in my mansion and you're being treated by the KaibaCorp medical staff. Feel honored." Kaiba said. "Well, Wheeler, just like in the few duels you've ridiculously won, you've gotten lucky. That bullet barely missed your heart; if I hadn't arrived you would have bled to death." Joey closed his eyes, not even wanting to think about how close that had been. 

            Suddenly, he remembered his father. "My dad! Where is he? Did he get home alright?" He asked, frantically. "Did you see him, Serenity?" She shook her head.

            "But I left the house very quickly. Seto sent a car to pick me up, since he couldn't reach me by phone. Dad might have gotten home while I was gone." 

            "Waitaminute. _'Seto'???_ Since when are you on first name terms????" This was all too much for Joey, and he fell back onto his pillow. 

            "Um, Joey. He did save you. I think it's allowed for me to call him 'Seto.'" 

            "No it isn't." He said stubbornly, not looking up, and not wanting to admit to himself that he owed Kaiba his life. "So… when can I go home?" He asked to change the subject.

            "Whenever." Kaiba said, sounding as though he was already bored with the whole affair. Joey sat up as much as could with out passing out from pain.

            "Good. Then I wanna go now." Serenity sighed. 

            "Joey, it's not good for your health to go so early… you should stay here a few days." She tentatively said. Joey shook his head. 

            "I'm perfectly fine. I just need some rest, and there's no reason I can't get that at home." Serenity sighed and turned to Kaiba.          

            "Seto? Would it be possible to get him to our house without reopening his wound?" Kaiba nodded and gave quiet orders to some servants to get his limo ready. Joey insisted that he could walk, but they made him use a wheel chair anyway, though he protested all the way into the limousine. He was completely silent for the entire drive and still didn't say a word when they parked right in front of his apartment building. Serenity hopped out of the limo to go and get the manager of the building to help support Joey up the stairs. Joey was about to get when Kaiba stopped him. 

            "Wheeler… I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about the Stephanovs. I paid off your father's debt to them in exchange for being able to take you away from there." He muttered in an undertone. Joey stared at him, horrorstruck.

            "You're telling me that you gave them _five thousand dollars?" _He gasped out. Kaiba nodded, observing his horrified manner quizzically. Joey was still staring at him, then he buried his head in his hands. "I'm indebted to _him_. Why _him??"__ He moaned to himself. Kaiba laughed. _

            "You don't have to pay me back, Wheeler. That amount of money doesn't matter." Joey looked up at him.

            "But- but- but- ... IT'S FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!" He shouted. 

            "God, Wheeler. I'm a multi billionaire… five thousand is pocket change. Besides, you let Muto give you three times that amount." 

            "That's different. Yugi's…"

            "… Your friend? …Someone you actually like? …Not a stuck up, high and mighty, jerk?"

            "Exactly." Joey said, looking miserable. Kaiba smirked.

            "Well, Wheeler. You may hate me but it doesn't matter, and you don't have to give me that money back. I know it's hurting your pride, but just tough it out. You'll get over it after a few minutes."

            "Tell me one thing." Joey said. Kaiba looked curious.

            "Why did you really do this? You hate me as much as I hate you." He asked, not breaking eye contact with the person he loathed so much. Kaiba sighed, and glanced at the floor for a minute.

            "… Because… Because you're not the only one with- with a… unsatisfactory father." He said quietly, then stepped quickly out of the limousine and walked up to Serenity and the manager of the building. Together, Kaiba, Serenity, the manager, and the limo driver were able to get Joey up the many flights to his apartment. Joey smiled slightly at Kaiba, then looking as though he'd rather be anywhere else in the world; he held his hand out to him. 

            "Thanks." He said simply, and Kaiba gave a small smile back and shook hands with him. "Don't get me wrong, Kaiba… I _still_ hate you."

            "The feeling's mutual." Kaiba said, then he walked down the flights of stairs with his driver, laughing quietly to himself. Joey sighed, then opened the door to his apartment. As he and Serenity walked into the kitchen he saw his father slumped over the kitchen table with a three quarters empty bottle of gin next to him. Joey walked close to him nervously, not sure if an attack would come, but instead his father looked up and scooted his chair as far away from him as he could; as if he had seen a ghost. He stood up and continued backing away, and Joey could see tear tracks down his father's cheeks. 

            "Joey…" He said quietly, not believing it. "Oh, Joey… I'm so damn sorry. It was all my fault. Please, don't come any closer, I'm sorry dammit, I'm sorry! I couldn't even get your body and give you a proper funeral! My son… my only son…" He was staring at Joey with a livid terror, and Joey felt like laughing and crying at the same time. He moved toward his father.          "I'm not dead, Dad. I made it. You always said I was practically indestructible." Zachary Wheeler stared at his son for a minute before bringing him into a tight embrace. 

            "Oh, son, I'm so sorry. I-I thought you were dead, and I just panicked… I don't even know what came over me, but- Oh God, Joey, don't you do that to me again, you hear?" He yelled then smacked Joey away from him. Joey sighed, he had liked to think for a minute that all of a sudden they'd have a wonderful, loving family, but it was almost relieving to have his father back to normal. Being hugged and cried over was too abnormal. He looked down at his chest and saw that the wound had begun to bleed again. Serenity hurried him into their room and made him lie down as she changed his bandage with some supplies she had gotten from the KaibaCorp medical team. She brought him some tea, and sat down next to him until he started to doze off. 

            "Dad's asleep." She murmured quietly. "You sleep too, okay?" She got up and moved to the door. Joey smiled as he drifted off, and finally fell asleep. He was sleeping deeply for about ten minutes, but then the sound of the front door closing woke him up. He lay in bed trying to discern what was going on, then got up, wincing, and went out into the kitchen. No one was there. He heard snoring from his father's room, but Serenity was no where to be seen. He ran back into his room and pulled up the blinds of his window to see into the street below. To his shock and horror, Kaiba's limousine was still there. He saw Serenity walk out of the building, wearing much nicer clothes than she had been before, and talk to Kaiba, who had been leaning against the side of the limo. He then saw Kaiba kiss her cheek and help her inside the limo. He rubbed his eyes, hoping he had been seeing things, but he was not mistaken. He ran full tilt out of the apartment and down the stairs, taking them five at a time. He ignored the pain in his chest, and he knew he wound was bleeding freely again. He leapt out of the building and saw the limo rounding a corner. He ran after it yelling threats at Kaiba, that he knew were unheard, then stopped, panting, once they had gone out of sight. 

            He was bent over clutching his chest where the pain was agonizing. It was too much to process for his poor, aching head. Though everything seemed to be coming together; all the times Serenity had gone out without saying precisely where she was going, the whole "Seto" business, Kaiba getting his car fixed at the Wheeler auto shop… it all made sense. He punched the wall of the building he was standing next to, and looked up as a car screeched to a stop right in front of him. His vision was fuzzy, and he couldn't really tell who the person who leapt out of the car was. Suddenly it all came into focus. Mai Valentine was approaching him at a lighting fast pace, and when Joey looked at himself he realized that he had left the apartment wearing nothing but boxers and a bandage around half his chest. He blushed bright red.

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	9. Following His Footsteps

            "Um… Mai. Err... Hey there. What are you doing here, anyway?" Joey mumbled backing away in his embarrassment. 

            "Serenity told Yugi, who told Teá, who was walking by my hotel, and told me about what happened!" She said rushing over to him and helping him to stand up, as his dash down the stairs had left him with no strength left. Joey sighed. 

            "Well, um… as you can see… um… I wasn't really expecting anyone … and um it was great to see yah, but I should go now. So, bye!" He said, attempting to sidle back into his building, leaving her behind. 

            "I'll help you up the stairs!" She said, cheerfully. Joey looked down at his boxer clad self again. God, He wouldn't even want Teá to see him like this… much less Mai. He blushed again. She started laughing as she supported him up the flights of stairs. 

            "You look so cute when you're embarrassed!" She giggled. Joey glared at her. 

            "I don't want to look cute." He said firmly, which caused to start laughing hysterically again. Once they finally got up to his apartment, Joey's wound was bleeding freely again. He tried to get rid of Mai again, protesting that he was perfectly fine, and had some sort of serious business to attend to. She ignored him, and helped him get inside; informing him that someone had to do something about his wound before he bled to death. Joey groaned… just what he needed. Another fussing female. 

            He sat down at one of the chairs in the kitchen while she fluttered around getting bandages and such. He buried his head in his hands. He had tried to sneak off and put some more clothes on, but she had made him stop because he'd "get blood all over everything." Mai came over to him.

            "You're going to have to stand up." She said matter-of-factly. Joey eased himself to his feet and nearly collapsed. His legs were trembling and all his strength had drained away with his blood. Mai sighed, and pulled his arms around her shoulders. Joey was blushing even more now as their bodies were practically pressed together. "Is this enough support?" She asked, as she gently began unwinding the bandage around his chest. Joey was choked up and could barely mutter a jumbled response. He was very aware of her hands' gentle caresses as she cleaned his wound, the way her hair was tickling his nose as she treated him, the perfume she wore, and every place that their bodies touched. He coughed nervously, and was afraid of getting a sudden nosebleed. She looked up at him, and amethyst eyes met rich, hazel brown. Imperceptibly their heads moved towards each other. 'What am I doing? What is she doing?' Joey thought to himself. 'Oh, shit.' His trembling legs had failed him- he collapsed, sending both of them to the floor, their mouths locked together in a passionate kiss. 

            Neither one wanted to pull away from that first kiss. A faint blush appeared on both of their cheeks. One moment of paradise. Then a maelstrom struck. Mai felt Joey being yanked away from her- someone was screaming something or other. Her vision was still a bit blurry- but everything quickly came into focus when she felt someone slap her across the cheek. She heard another slap and saw Joey rubbing a red abrasion on his face. A purple haired, livid demon was cursing and screaming at Joey as Mai watched, helplessly from the floor. 

            "…. And after everything I've done for you!" She continued in such a high pitched shriek that Mai feared the windows would shatter. 

            "Christy, baby, sweetheart… It's not like that! Honest! I just tripped, that's all!" Joey pleaded, clutching his chest where the bullet hole was. Mai glanced at her shirt and saw red blood where he had fallen on her. Joey continued with his appeal, "Mai was just helping me with my bandages! I didn't even want her to; you know… she just insisted! Then I tripped because I can't stand up too well after being shot and all and we just happened to land like that, yah know? It's a total misunderstanding." Mai felt as though a bullet had entered _her_ chest. Was that really all it was? Had she kissed him when he had just tripped? But she was sure that he had been just as involved in the action as she had been… And it seemed Christy was sure as well…

            "If that's so, then why were you lying there for ten minutes!? And you're practically naked!" She yelled. 

            "I am not! I have … boxers on…  But I had only them on before she came! It's not like I took my other clothes off! You know that I just hang out at home like this all the time! And we were just lying there because… well you know… um heat of the moment… I wasn't thinking clearly… I was shot last night! I shouldn't have to think! I was delirious! I thought she was you!" He was grasping at straws now, Mai saw. She felt horrible. Obviously, he hadn't really meant to kiss her, and there she had been kissing him- devoting every molecule to the action. What was he thinking about her? But she had been so sure that he had kissed her back. Well, she wouldn't put it past him to respond fiercely when a girl kissed him, without feeling a thing for her. Typical male behavior. She looked at his pained face, and felt a pang in her heart. He was still sweet, and no matter what she wanted to help him. Christy stormed out of the apartment with some cruel parting comment Mai did not hear. She was still so confused about all the jumbled feelings inside her. 

            "Shit… CHRISTY! Waitaminute!" Joey called, trying to get up and run after her. He could still barely walk, however, and running was impossible. Mai stood up. "Mai! Go tell her what really happened! Please!" He begged. Mai raised an eyebrow.

            "What do you mean 'what really happened'?" She asked. "I don't know what really happened! Your excuses kept changing." She said, icily, though she felt only love for him at the moment. 

            "I tripped, fell on you, and our heads just happened to land that way when she came in! That's all there is to it!" He said firmly. 

            "You really think so?" She asked, feeling miserable. 

            "Absolutely. I mean seriously… me and you? Together? Yeah, right. I barely even know you, and I totally don't feel like that about you. I mean, we're like complete opposites. You're just a friend, Mai, and I know you don't really like me that much." Mai felt rotten. She thought of all the times she had insulted and teased him. 'I really hurt him.' She thought to herself. 

            "Joseph… it's not like I don't like you! You're a great friend! And umm… a great duelist! And I'm so sorry I've teased you all those times. … it's just…" She trailed off, and he smiled at her. 

            "It's fine, Mai. And I'm glad you think of me as a friend. But could you _please_ do me this favor and save my skin with Christy?" Mai looked indecisive for a minute, and then ran out the door. "I'll fix it, Joey! I promise!" She darted down the stairs and after Christy's rapidly retreating back. She finally caught up to her and panted, "Wait!" Christy whirled around and looked as though she was about to start having a screaming fit again. Mai cut in before she could start. "Look. I know what that looked like, but honestly it was all a misunderstanding and mostly my fault. I didn't understand his action, and reacted in an inappropriate way. But he really loves you, and you shouldn't be so hard on him." She said quickly. Christy gave her an appraising look. 

            "What's your name?" She said suspiciously. 

            "Mai Valentine. Yours?" 

            "Christy Henderson. Now listen, Mai. We need to have a chat, okay? I want you to stay the hell away from my boyfriend, got it?" She threatened.

            "What are you going to do if I don't? Dye my hair pink?" Mai scoffed.

            "You probably don't know this because you're new around here, but my father owns three quarters of Domino City. Including all the cheap apartments, business rental lots, and can blackmail or coerce any business owner in the city to do whatever he wants." Mai raised an eyebrow.

            "And is that supposed to impress me?" She asked.

            "Not really, it's to let you know that if Joey breaks up with me because of you or anyone else, his father will lose his business, apartment, and never be able to work in this town again. And I'm sure you'd know what would happen to Joey then. If his father found out that it was _all_ his fault? I wouldn't want to be there. Even if he survived, Joey wouldn't be able to work anywhere either, and he's much too poor to ever afford to move anywhere else. And if you think his pathetic friends would help, you're dead wrong. Even the closest of friends have their price, or at least their parents do…" She smiled sickeningly sweetly at Mai. "You have until next Saturday to stop all contact with him. And you're forbidden from seeing him ever again. And if you so much as mention what I've said to you, one Zachary Wheeler and son will be out on the street in twenty minutes flat." She stared up at Mai with wide, innocent eyes, smiling like a shark. Mai gaped at her. Christy laughed, and changed the subject.

            "I do so love projects! He's been mine for ages. Hasn't he improved in gentlemanly behavior? Soon he'll stop associating with the riffraff, and he might even rise in station. I somewhat doubt it though. The accent would have to go, but it's so cute!" She giggled like a twelve year old and walked back up to the apartment building. "Toodles!" She called over her shoulder at the seething Mai. 

            Once she was out of sight, Mai quickly climbed up the fire escape to peer in at Joey's apartment window. The walls were thin and cheap, and she could hear every word said. Christy entered, and Joey stood up, amazed to see her. They hugged, she bandaged his wound (sloppily), then she proceeded to cook him dinner, after first calling her 'Daddy' to tell him to pay the Wheelers' water and power bill, despite Joey's protests that they could pay it. She served him a sickening casserole of some kind, and Joey stoically ate it, smiling painfully, and complimenting it whenever he could. Mai's stomach turned when he gently kissed her before she had to leave. Then she realized that her car was still in plain sight on the street below, and it would be obvious that she was spying on them. She darted down the many flights of stairs of the fire escape and leapt into her car, driving away at full speed, right before Christy walked smugly out to her BMW convertible. 

            After Christy left, Joey slumped down into a chair. He was having the worst day of his life. First being shot, then Serenity and Kaiba, then Mai, then Christy… his eyes wandered around the small apartment, landing on a bottle of Jack Daniels on the counter…

############################################################################################

Serenity came home around ten o'clock laughing and happy. She had had a wonderful date, and was anxious to make sure Joey had been alright without her. She waltzed into the apartment calling "Hey, Joey! I'm home!," but there was no response. She tried turning on the lights, and was amazed to find out that the power had been turned back on. Then she saw a slumped shape sitting at the table. At first she thought it was her father, but once she went over and carefully examined him she realized it was her brother. She looked at the half empty bottle of whiskey next to him. Without a word she picked it up and dumped the remainder of it down the sink. She then filled it with water from the tap and dumped it over his head. Joey jumped out of his drunken stupor, spluttering. 

            "Joey! I can't believe you! After you've grown up with an alcoholic and you always _promised_ that you'd never touch the stuff, then you go and get completely drunk, just like Dad! You're susceptible to alcoholism, Joey! Addiction runs in the family! You _know _that mom was addicted to drugs when she was younger, and barely managed to quit! And every other day you get abused by an alcoholic! I thought you would have learned some sort of lesson by now! Do you want to become an abusive parent? Sleep with some girl some night and get stuck raising a kid who you beat up when you're feeling depressed? Do you really want to do that, Joey? This is ridiculous! I am completely disgusted with you! I can't believe you would put yourself at risk like that!" Joey glared up at her with red rimmed eyes. 

            "Leave me alone." He muttered. Serenity was amazed to see that after half a bottle of whiskey his words were not slurred at all. He must have very high alcohol tolerance, just like their father. "This is all your fault anyway. If you hadn't run off with Seto Kaiba, Mai would never have seen me, I never would have kissed her, and Christy would never have walked in on us!" He yelled at Serenity, making her take a step away from him. 

            "You kissed _Mai?_ And Christy _saw_ you?" She gasped. 

            "Yeah, well that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you've been dating Kaiba behind my back!" 

            "I'm so sorry, Joey, but I knew if I asked you you'd say 'No.'…" 

            "Yeah I would. Because you don't know him Serenity! He's a complete, heartless bastard. He probably just wants something from you anyway. He'll end up treating you lousily, I guarantee." 

            "I know him better than you do! He's a wonderful person, even though he acts kind of ruthless on the outside. He's been through a lot, and you two are really quite similar!" 

            "Right. Me and Kaiba. Similar." He burst into laughter, then turned serious. "Well, Serenity, you can just break up with him right now. Cancel any dates you had because there is no way in Hell I'd let you continue to see him, got that?" Serenity tried not to burst into tears. She picked up the phone and took it into their room so Joey would not hear the painful conversation she must have with her boyfriend. Half an hour later she came into the kitchen, and Joey could see tear streaks down her face. He felt a moment of compassion.

            "Serenity- I- I'm really sorry, but it really is for the best, you know. He-He's not our type." She turned on him, and he could see fresh tears waiting to fall from her eyes. 

            "Why do you have to be so spiteful?" She screamed at him. "Why can't you accept that yes, you two have had fights and duels and he's beaten you and insulted you and get over it? If he knew that you'd forgive him, he'd be nicer! I promise!" Joey stood up, glowering, his hand raised, almost as if he would strike her.

            "Shut up! He's never been anything but a jerk! He'll never change! He never does anything for anyone else! He's just a spoiled rich kid!" He shouted, and brought his hand down at her face. She gave a tiny scream, and Joey quickly regained control and stopped his arm an inch from her cheek. He stared at his hand which he was about to hit the person dearest to him with. Serenity burst into tears and ran from the room and into their bedroom, slamming the door. Joey sat back down at the table, still staring at his hand. What had he been thinking? He had just acted like his father. He had nearly hit his baby sister who trusted him so much. Tears began rolling down his cheeks. Why did it have to be this way? Why did he even try to drown his worries in alcohol? That was what his father did, and Joey had felt the results of it. He couldn't become a no-good drunk, who attacked innocent children. He laughed mirthlessly. Serenity wasn't a child anymore. She was fourteen and dating a seventeen year old. What was the world coming to? He lay with his head buried in his arms, silently sobbing. Once he had calmed down, he picked up the phone. There was an important call he needed to make. 

**********************************************************************************************

            Serenity woke up late in the morning, wondering why she felt so horrible. Then it all came back to her. Her tearful conversation with Seto over the phone, Joey's drunken rage… She felt miserable, but, she imagined, not nearly as miserable as Joey. She timidly went into the kitchen and saw two boxes sitting on the kitchen table. She opened the first to see a dozen donuts, all her favorite kinds. She smiled, her brother was trying to make the previous night up to her. The second box had a note scrawled on the top in her brother's hand writing: "For Serenity, I'm sorry I was such a lousy brother last night. All my love, Joey" She opened the second box and gasped. Inside was a gorgeous sky blue dress. She pulled it out and admired it. It came down to a bit above her knees, with spaghetti straps that crossed in the back. It was somewhat tight, and had beautiful sheer, sparkly matching over-shirt. When she moved some of the tissue paper in the box away she saw a pair of beautiful matching high heel shoes. The entire ensemble must have cost Joey at least three months' paychecks. She heard the door open and saw her brother come in, covered in dirt and car oil from working all morning at the auto shop. Putting the dress down carefully so it wouldn't wrinkle she hugged tightly babbling her thanks. Joey smiled, then asked her to be a bit more quiet, as he had the worst headache ever. She apologized then ran off to try on the dress, and Joey had been in a panic about whether it would fit or not. She came out of their room wearing and Joey grinned. 

            "You look gorgeous." He said smiling. Serenity admired herself in the small mirror in the kitchen. 

            "It's so beautiful. Thank you, Joey!" She continued to admire the dress and Joey grabbed an ice pack for his head and went to watch TV. After a while a knock came on the door. She opened it and gasped. 

            "_Seto?!_ What are you doing here? I'm going to get in sooo much trouble! I _told_ you our date was off!" He raised an eyebrow. 

            "I know you did. But I got a phone call last night from your brother. He said… now what were his exact words?… I believe they were: '… and if you don't take my sister on the nicest date of her life, I'll come over there and knock your ass into the next century!' … or something like that." He said, laughing. Serenity stared at him.

            "You're kidding." She exclaimed. Kaiba sighed. 

            "Not in the least. It _was_ very surprising though. By the way, you look great in that dress." Serenity ran back into the apartment and hugged Joey so tightly that he protested that the injury in his chest would open up again. 

            "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cried, causing him to wince as his head exploded with pain again. 

            "Yeah, yeah. Go have fun. And don't do anything stupid, okay?" He warned. She nodded, and ran back out to Kaiba who was waiting for her. Once Joey was sure they'd be downstairs he surreptitiously looked out the window at them. His little sister seemed so happy. Yes, he had done the right thing. He went into the kitchen to get some food, and saw a small post-it note on the counter. In very neat handwriting was written,

"Thanks, Wheeler."


End file.
